Matt Damon Responds To Backlash Over Him Retiring The Word 'F****t'

Matt Damon has issued a statement after he was criticised for revealing he had 'retired' using a homophobic slur.

In a bizarre revelation, the Good Will Hunting star explained how a discussion with his daughter made him stop saying the word 'f****t'.

Speaking to The Times, Damon said: "The word that my daughter calls the 'f-slur for a homosexual' was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application.

"I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter. She left the table. I said, 'Come on, that's a joke! I say it in the movie Stuck on You!'

"She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, 'I retire the f-slur!' I understood."

While it was nice to know he won't be using the word under any context anymore, many people found it problematic he would use it at all.

He's now released a new message clarifying what he meant when he told the Sunday Times that fun family story.

Damon said he's never used the word in his 'personal life' and absolutely stands with the LGBTQIA+ community.

He said to Variety: "During a recent interview, I recalled a discussion I had with my daughter where I attempted to contextualize for her the progress that has been made - though by no means completed - since I was growing up in Boston and, as a child, heard the word 'f*g' used on the street before I knew what it even referred to.

"I explained that that word was used constantly and casually and was even a line of dialogue in a movie of mine as recently as 2003; she in turn expressed incredulity that there could ever have been a time where that word was used unthinkingly.

"To my admiration and pride, she was extremely articulate about the extent to which that word would have been painful to someone in the LGBTQ+ community regardless of how culturally normalized it was. I not only agreed with her but thrilled at her passion, values and desire for social justice."

He said the conversation he had with his daughter was not some sort of 'personal awakening' for his ideas of what is right and wrong to say.

"And given that open hostility against the LGBTQ+ community is still not uncommon, I understand why my statement led many to assume the worst. To be as clear as I can be, I stand with the LGBTQ+ community," he concluded.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, Matt Damon

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie